Garment hanger



Mach 13, 1951 w, RT 2,545,15fi

GARMENT HANGER Filed Feb. 21, 1947 INVENTOR.

Patented Mar. 13, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT HANGERWilliam E; Martin, Kewanee, Ill.

Application February 21, 1947, Serial No. 729,988

Claims. (Cl. 22391) This invention is directed to clothes hangers andmore specifically concerns an improvement in the construction of theconventional type of metal wire hanger to increase the efficiency andutility thereof.

Metal wire hangers are being used constantly and. are increasingly indemand. Metal wire hangers are on of the main business accessories fortailoring and cleaning establishments and subsequently their use iscontinued in the home.

However, it has been one of the problems of th tailor or cleaner to makethe conventional type Of hanger sufiice for all types of garments whichinvolves the use of other items such as clamps, pins, etc. Dresses, suitcoats, vests, jackets and like garments can be thrown over the hangerswithout difiiculty, 'but' womens skirts, mens slacks, trousers or'itemsof this kind cannot be efficiently accommodated by the ordinary hanger.

Trousers or slacks lower run of the hanger, but if they ar notreasonably centered the hanger is unbalanced causing shifting of thsupported garments into a wrinkled concentration at oneor the othercorners of the supporting hanger. Ladies skirts or like garments areusually pinned to the hanger from the waist bands, but when so carriedthey are also subjected to bunching by slippage to either corner of thhanger. This occurs with skirts, slacks, trousers, etc., whether othergarments are carried upon the 'hangers over the aforementioned garmentsor not. Furthermore, continual handlingduring loading of cleaners truckscauses shifting of the clothing carried upon the hangers. duringdeliveries further tends to dislodge the garments. As a result, manygarments ar delivered in wrinkled condition and are sent back by therecipient for re-pressing, etc.

It is one of the main objects of the present invention to provide ageneral utility hanger that will serve to hold all of the normal run ofgarments with facility and efficiency.

Another object of the hanger is to eliminate the .use of accessories forfastening the garments to the hanger. H

The hanger, has th added featureof being constructed from single wirestock, thereby simplifying the structure and permittingthe manufacturethereof under negligible additionalexpense.

Another advantage of the hangeris the introduction of self-clampinggarment holders that also function to centralize and hold garments inThe motion of the trucks are usually draped over the a position tobalance the hanger load preventing the tendency to side slip supportedclothing.

The newly designed hanger deviates little from the conventionalconstruction of hanger as to the thickness thereof whereby such hangerswhen stacked or when closely hung for use will require very littleaddedspace.

All other objects and advantages relating to the hanger of the presentdesign shall hereinafter appear in th following detailed descriptionhaving reference to the accompanying drawings disclosing a preferredconstruction of hanger and forming a part of this specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevational View ofv the clothes hanger of this.invention as the same would appear while supporting a womans skirt fromits waist band;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged side elevational view of the oppositeside of the hanger to illustrate certain details of constructionthereof;

Fig.3 is a bottom edge view of th fragmentary hanger shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of the hanger as seensubstantially along the line 4-4 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a similar cross sectional view but taken along-the line 55 inFig. 2;

Fig; 6 is afragmentary view of the lower run of the metal wire hangerillustrating a modified arrangement to counteract slippage of garments;

and V Fig. '7 is a detail view of a modified construction of loop thatmay be-used in place of the loops of Figs. 4 and 5.

The hanger is preferably constructed of a single. length of metal wireformed as an open wire loop comprising a lower run l, extending the fullwidth of the hanger, a pair of vertical legs 2 and 3 terminating indiagonally disposed garment shoulder. supporting wires 4 and 5,respectively; and the diagonalwire 5 terminates in a hanger supportinghook 6, while the end 1 of the wire is coiled about a portion of thebase of the hook b to complete the hanger structure.

Intermediate/the extent of the lower run I of the hanger are formed apair of spaced and up standing loop 8 and 9. Loops 8 and 9 are made tolie in plan-eseach disposed at an angleto the general plane of thehanger and may pe formed in parallel planes as shown or in'non-parallelplanes if desired. Loops 8 and 9 divide the lower run 1 into sectionsill, H and i2 which are laterally offset as best seen in Figs. 2 and 3..

3 the vertical loops 8 and 9, the latter being well shown in Figs. 4 and5. Sections Ill and 12 are aligned while the section H is laterallypositioned as shown in Fig. 3.

With the natural inherent resiliency of the metal wire, the loops and 9are normally almost closed at 13 and Id, or slightly spaced for easyentry of the garment to be supported within such loops from the lowerrun I of the hanger. The upper ends of the loops 8 and 9 may haveparallel legs or they may be disposed to spread as shown at 15 and 15 inFig. 4 or at I? and (8 in Fig. to be joined by the curved terminal endsit and 28 respectively. Thus more clearance for waist bands and the likeprevails and by making the sweep of the curved ends [9 and 23 larger,better spring action is available with a corresponding amount of greaterclearance range within the confines of the loops 8 and 9. The springaction of the loops is supplemented by the stiffness of the sections it,H and 12 of the lower run I of the hanger.

In order that the full width of the hanger may provide ample handlingclearance, the legs 2 and 3 are made to extend vertically to pointsabove the upper extremities of the loops 8 and 9. With the staggered oroifset sectional structure of the bottom run I of the hanger it ispossible to support a garment that is of greater width than the overallwidth of the hanger since the end sections and I2 and the legs 2 and 3will not interfere with the garment when properly supported by theclamping loops 8 and 9 between the sections iii and I2 and the sectionII. The plane of support is generally indicated by the dot and dashlines (1-1) in Fig. 3.

A hanger constructed as described fulfills a need for a universalgarment support having the ability to hold and carry numerous garmentswithout slippage and without wrinkling. The skirt S in Fig. i may bereadily inserted at l3: and it into the two spaced loops 8 and 9. Slacksor trousers may also be supported in similar fashion, but for mens suitsthe trousers may be draped over the section H of the lower run I of thehanger and between the spaced loops 8 and s which act to center thesupported trousers to balance the hanger. Ties or belts and other smallitems may be draped over the end sections i0 and I2 of the hanger.

As an additional feature, the lower sections IE3, H and E2 of the hangermay be deformed or suitably serrated to provide a frictional means toreduce slippage and displacement of garments. In Fig. 6, such serrationsare shown at 2 l, 22 and 23 on the sections Iii, ii and 12. Suchdeformations or serrations 2|, 22 and 23 are formed upwardly from thelower run ll of the wire, but may be formed laterally as well ifdesired, the purpose being to frictionally engage the draped orotherwise adjacent/1y held and supported garments of the hanger.

A further modification in the hanger design may be introduced byapplying deformations in well as the substitution of equivalent meansare all contemplated. Such variations shall be governed by the breadthand scope of the language in the appended claims defining the featuresof the hanger of the present design.

What I claim is:

1. A hanger having a part thereof adapted for supporting a garmentcomprising a horizontal wire having spaced wire loops formed therein anddisposed in planes at right angles to the wire, said spaced loops havingdownwardly open ends to receive garments from beneath and to suspend thesame therefrom, said wire loops being equidistant from the middle ofsaid hanger to centralize garments draped over said horizontal wirebetween said wire loops, and said horizontal wire having integralportions thereof bodily deformed radially with respect to the wire toprovide a tortuous wire to frictionally engage the adjacent portions ofany garment draped over said horizontal wire of the hanger to preventrolling slippage of the garment about the axis of said horizontal wirebetween the loops of said hanger.

2. A hanger having a part thereof adapted for supporting a garmentcomprising a wire having spaced wire loops formed therein and positionedin planes angularly disposed with respect to said wire, said loops eachhaving a pair of legs to provide adjacent parts to receive a garmenttherein and to suspend the same from said wire, and said wire loops eachhaving said adjacent parts thereof bodily deformed to provide a tortuouspassageway for said garment within which to frictionally engage oppositeside portions of the garment when the same is inserted into the wireloops of said hanger, said deformed parts comprising coactingundulations in each of said legs of the loop disposed transversely ofsaid hanger for operative engagement with a garment in the plane of thewire loop.

3. A wire garment hanger having one wire run thereof arranged forsupporting and holding skirts or other similar garments comprising apair of aligned and longitudinally spaced wire sections each terminatingintermediate the overall length of the wire run, said run having anintermediate Wire section longitudinally disposed and extending betweenthe ends of said first pair of spaced wire sections from the terminalend of one to the terminal end of the other thereof, and garmentgrasping'wire loops each connecting a terminal end of said spaced wiresections with an adjacent end of said intermediate wire sectionrespectively to support garments sandwiched between the aforesaid spacedwire sections and said intermediate wire section.

4. An open centered wire garment hanger having one wire run thereofarranged for supporting skirts or other garments comprising a pair ofwire sections each forming a part of said run, and a second offset wiresection to complete the wire run by extending directly between theterminal ends of said pair of sections, and wire garment holdersinterposed between the adjacent terminal portions of said wire sectionsto support garments, each of said holders comprising an open wire loophaving a pair of garment grasping legs, the free ends of the latterbeing directly connected respectively with the adjacent end portions ofthe wire sections and said legs having a loop to join the other endsthereof, said wire holders projecting upwardly from the wire run of thehanger with the loops being located in planes angularly disposed withrespect to the wire sections comprising the wire run.

5. Garment holding means connected with the lower run of a metal wirehanger comprising a pair of spaced wire garment holders formedintegrally from said lower run of wire, said holders each comprising asingle open wire loop having separated upstanding legs positioned in aplane disposed angularly with respect to the general plane of thehanger, each loop terminating at its closed portion in a curved springend to urge the legs of the loop together and to provide means to limitthe upward insertion of the garment, each loop having an open lower endpositioned in line with the lower wire run of the hanger to receive agarment therein from beneath, and

said loops being positioned to support one end of a garment in a planesubstantially coincident The following references are of record in thefile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,605,918 Buchanan Nov. 9, 19262,145,120 Loveless Jan. 24, 1939

